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Rebecca resolved to purchase a house with a friend and their combined income was under the €75,000 threshold for the low-interest home loan scheme. But their application was turned down because 100% of overtime earnings were included – though some local authorities only add ten per cent of the extra pay.

Rebecca, who was given notice to quit her Dublin home earlier this year and had to move to Meath, fumed: “I’m in temporary accommodation, paying €1,300 a month for a one-bed apartment, and I have to share a bed with my five-year-old daughter.

“We’re in Ashbourne and her school is in Castleknock, then I drive to work in Coolock. We’re in our fourth rental, my daughter has lost her room.

“One council official told me ‘why don’t you avail of Housing Assistance Payment, you can use it as a way of saving?’

“But I’ve saved €34,000, I don’t qualify for social housing.

“A council worker told me I’d qualify if I spent the money on holidays.

“I’d be better off on the dole. I have countless people telling me the same thing.

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“The families and people who are most vulnerable yet still work for what they have, are left out of the scheme.

Rebecca is heading a national campaign for a review of the scheme and transparency and tighter regulation.

The Department of Finance warned against proceeding with the scheme which gives borrowers a fixed interest rate of 2% to 2.25% for 25-30 years saying the rationale for the loans was “unclear”.

Income cannot exceed €50,000 for a single person or €75,000 for a couple, with applicants reportedly approved by one local authority and refused by another.

The Department of Housing said bonuses and overtime “are reckonable for calculation of borrowing and repayment capacity” but the final decision “is a matter for each local authority on a case-by-case basis”.

Fianna Fail TD Jack Chambers said: “I think this scheme was designed just to pay lip service, to pretend they were trying to deliver for low and middle income families."